Cleaner for pipes and the like.



T HARDING.

CLEANER FOR PIPES AND THE LIKE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 5. 19l6.

1,287,681. Patented Dec. 17, 1 918.

WITNESS FICE THOMAS- nnan'rne, or NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, nssIGnoR TO J. L.soivnvmn MANUFAC- [Teams 00., n ooaroaa'r o'n or new JERSEY.

I v 'ctEANEaFon rrPEsAND THELIKE.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Dem 17?1918 I Applicationfiled February 5, 1916. Serial No. 76,247.

1'0 uZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS HARDING, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of Newark, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cleaners for Pipesand the like, ofwhich the followingis a specification. r The objects ofthis invention are to provide a cleaner having pivoted scraping memberswith an extensive range of pivotal movement, so that they can adjustthemselves to pipe bowlsof .varying shapes; to enable the pivotalmovement to be predetermined and varied as desired; to employ for thispurpose a scraping member of sheet metal having at its rear edge an earof less length than the member returned parallel to the blade, so as toreceive thehandle member between said ear and blade; to thusprovide bythe edge of said ear a stop toengage the handle member andlimit swing;to thus enable the swing to be determined b the width of the ear; tosecure simplicity 0 construction and operation, and to obtain otheradvantages and results as may be brought out in the followingdescription.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, in which like numerals ofreference indicate the same parts throughout the several views,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a pipe cleaner embodying my inventionshown in operating position within a pipe sectioned through its bowl;

Fig. 2 is an edge view of such a pipe cleaner looking at the right handedge as shown in Fig. 1;

Figs. 3 and 4: are perspective views of the scraping members, and

Fig. 5 is an elevation of the handle memher from which the scrapers havebeen re that the loop is sufliciently resilient to permit theends to bethus pressed together and to spread them apart again as soon asthey arereleased. .Adjacent the free ends of thesefiattened portions 3, 4 arepivoted scraping members 5, flatwise with respect thereto, so as toswing in the plane of the loop. Obviously the outer. long edges ofthesescrapers form the cutting edges, and preferably one of these scrapers as5, is provided with a plurality of teeth 7 longitudinallyof its.cuttingedge so that as the scraper is turned around within a pipe bowlor the like the matter; to be cleaned off is scraped .by the teeth,leaving ridges between where the teeth have scraped. By thls meansthescraper is adaptedto embed in the material much more readily than asmooth blade or blade without teeth, and will in any eventbreak-up, acrust or coating with greater facility. The other scraping member 6 ispreferably provided with a smooth cutting edge, that is,-an edge withoutteeth or corrugations, and it will be understood in operation that asthe device is turned around the smooth edge will scrape off the ridgesleft by the toothed scraper.

Preferably the scrapers are positioned upon opposite sides of theflattened portions of the handle member, and in such manner that as thedevice is held in upright position the scraper toward the right handside will be mounted upon the front of the handle member and the scraperat the left hand side will be mounted upon the back of the handlemember. By this construction, it will be observed that as the device isrotated in a right hand direction, as would ordinarily be done, thescrapers will be in front of the supporting portions of the handlemember and will push the dirt scraped ofi? around ahead of them and thusprevent as far as possible the tendency of dirt to enter between thescrapers and their supporting portions of the handle. Furthermore, itwill be observed that a considerable portion of the length of thescraper is in flatwise engagement with the flattened portion of thehandle, so the handle will push the scraper around without any tendencyto pull it off of its pivotal support, and will also reinforce thescraper so it will not become bent.

Preferably, in order to strengthen the scrapers, the same are providedwith ears 8, 9 upon their inner edges which are turned back each tooverlie the body portion of the scraper substantially parallel theretoin spaced relation, so that the flattened portions of the handle may beinserted and pivoted therebetween as by rivets 10, 11. These ears are ofless width than the length of the scraper members, and provide at theirupper edges stops to engage the handle ends and limit swinging, so thatby the Width of the ears the swing of the scraper members ispredetermined. It will be noted that by making the ears narrow incomparison to the length of the scraper members considerable swing ofsaid members is secured, even so that their uppe'rends clear the handleends 3, 4. As shown in the drawings, the inner edges of the flattenedportions are notched as at 12, 13 to permit the scrapers to tilt outwardat their upper ends, the notches accommodating the portions of the earsconnecting thebody of the scrapers to the parts of the ears which areparallel thereto.

It will be noted that by this construction the thickness of the deviceis substantially that of the metal forming the loop of the handle, sothat the same is flat and very readily carried in a pocket and notlikely to become caught or injured. The parts are simple and readilymade from sheet metal and the scrapers will operate without themselvesbecoming clogged.

While I have illustrated a form of my cleaner especially adapted forscraping the interior surface of the bowls of smoking p1pes,I do notwish to restrict myself in any way to this use of my invention, and itwill be understood that the construction set forth can be employed incleaners for any purpose to which the invention can be utilized.Furthermore, various detail modifications and changes may be made inmanufacturing my improved cleaner without departing from the spirit andscope of the invention and I do not wish to be understood as restrictingmyself except as required by the following claim when construed in thelight of the prior art.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is.

In a device of the character described, the

combination with a handle member having an end adapted to enter a pipebowl, of a scraper having a blade at one side of said handle member andan ear of less width than the length of said blade projecting from therear edge of the same around the said end of Copies of this patent maybe obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner ofPatents.

' Washington, D. O.

